


Nunc Id Vides

by Elefwin



Category: Marvel Ultimates
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 02:59:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elefwin/pseuds/Elefwin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers sees dead people. good <i>grief</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nunc Id Vides

**Author's Note:**

> beta: [jazzypom](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jazzypom) the amazing.  
> and the title translates as "Now You See It".

It all starts with a drop of blood. Well, obviously it _all_ had started a long time ago, but the end -- the end begins with this single drop.

No-one sees it but Stark. He goes very still, freezes in an awkward pose and stares at the table -- their polished to mirror sheen table, too big for a semi-formal meeting of the remaining Ultimates. Steve Rogers only notices a snag at the very edge of his vision, because he is sitting far and is not looking. He and Stark, they do not see eye to eye these days. Old news.

When Stark excuses himself mid-briefing, aloof and smooth, it is annoying, but not new either. He stands, presses a handkerchief to his nose with a steady hand, and stumbles over nothing half-way to the door. Then it all goes to hell.

Stark falls… slowly, slow enough for Steve to go around the table and tackle him before he hits the floor. They go down together, Stark's body boneless and limp, Stark's grip on Steve's arm iron. There is now blood all over Stark's face, black against his pale skin, thick red on Steve's shirt, because the nosebleed just won't stop.

Just a nosebleed.

There is surprise and sharp terror in Stark's eyes before they roll back.

Shit. Shit, _shit_.

Someone calls 911.

*

Stark ends up in Lenox Hill.

Steve _also_ ends up in Lenox Hill. He is there for a friend. A friend old and dear, to whom it would matter. Rumor travels fast, though, and he gets a pointed look from Bucky, and wants to hit something. No-one says a word, well, no-one has to.

No-one can do anything for Stark, except perhaps pray. He had, against doctor's orders, spoken to exactly three people he had to speak with, and made it clear he did not care for company. Anyway, he is too -- _weak_ \-- tired and too heavily medicated to care anymore or even to be pissed about it all.

_The end, ladies and gentlemen, is extremely fucking nigh, and it looks like I'm gonna miss it._

*

Steve is leaving when -- another snag in the corner of his eye -- he sees Black Widow walk down a corridor. He does not have to _think_ to follow her, he just does. And he knows it is her, and he knows it cannot be.

No-one else seems to notice the striking redhead dressed to kill. Steve comes close -- close enough to touch, too close to be safe, and she does not notice _him_.

He is so close he almost walks into the wall.

Steve knows girls -- knows _about_ girls who can walk through walls. He knows about girls who can turn into anyone. He...   
...knows what is behind this wall, the one he is bound to run into.

Natasha Romanov -- or the thing disguised as Natasha Romanov -- does not move when Steve quietly breaks into the ward. She does not see -- stares right through him, and his hand and knee pass right through her.

She is gone in a blink of an eye, before Steve regains his balance.

_Not_ gone, _she is_ \-- people, real solid _aware_ people in white coats come through the _door_, and he has to be sane for that.

*

They find nothing untoward in the room. Tony sleeps through the commotion.

*

Steve Rogers sits in a corner, counting ghosts. He does not need to be there, Lord, does he not. He does not _want_ to be there. Yet there's nowhere else he _has_ to be, nothing worth Ultimate attention happens today, and he cannot make himself just leave.

He knows exactly how stupid that is, _thanks, Tony_.

Tony Stark is asleep or -- more likely -- unconscious. That's fine, Steve can be angry for two.

*

He thought a sort of holographic projection, maybe. Or magic. Somebody playing a little twisted mind game. But there is no _point_, so ghosts they be.

They come and go, fade in and out of focus, some mere shadows, others disturbingly realistic. Jarvis stands side by side with his murderer, and the same forlorn look on their faces is funny and sad. There's a man who can only be Stark senior. There's a sleek dark woman with a gun, and another, clothed in light. Steve tells himself it's the light, and not her face, that makes him avert his eyes. Then there's the black girl.

They do not see him, all right. He is an accident, not the objective of this strange haunting. They do not see each other either, though, and that's... wrong. They must have known each other. Knowing Tony, probably could not stand each other, too. But this? This silent eerie longing and loneliness absolute in their eyes? It's sick. If that's what death can be...

Steve jumps when the beep and hum of Tony's various monitoring devices change tone.

*

Tony wakes to the sight of Steve Rogers, larger than life (and death), looming over him. It's not like he can see very well, but Cap leaves this... impression on the world around, hard to miss. _Outstanding_.

*

It's not quite an eye roll and not quite a glare, because Tony can't focus his eyes.

Steve is shamefully glad he's got nothing to say. Tony does, but his voice is shot, worse than Steve's, he has to lean into the tangle of tubes, wires and sharp chemical smells to hear: "Ice."

Tony sucks on his ice chips, draws a deep breath, chokes, tries again.

"Okay. Why you are here."

"I --" Captain America does not lie to a dying teammate. He tells most of the truth. Ghosts and shadows gather around for the tale, and Tony --

There's surprise again, and something else, intense and alive in his washed-out face. It's not fear.

"Figures," he smiles. "Friends, family... and you."

And that's where it ends. The wonder passes. Tony stares through him, past him with a familiar lost dead look. In a moment the machines catch up, showing and telling exactly how not alive Tony Stark is.

Steve Rogers walks out of Lenox Hill alone.

That's how it ends, because the flicker, the hint of a presence, always in the corner of his eye, is nothing but a trick of shadow and light.


End file.
